Picture This

It was a Nicolas Cage movie, perhaps The Rock, where he received a record album in the mail for which he had paid a large price. When harassed by his fellow workers,” Why vinyl?” he replied, “It sounds better.”

I got to pondering that response, and I remembered the slight degradation of quality from 4 track tape to 8 track and again from 8 track to cassette. I wondered,  “Is it true?”  Who knows?  I haven’t had a turntable for over 20 years even though I continued to move my record collection from California to South Carolina to Texas and back to California.

I had purchased a few CDs of my favorite albums but most of my albums were not available on CD. So it was with some interest when I read an article about converting your old albums to CDs with the new ION Turntable. They were sold out at Christmas time so I waited a few months until they were in stock again at Circuit City.  This turntable comes with a USB port and plugs into your computer.  Also supplied with it is Audacity shareware for editing, sequencing, removing scratches and pops, and conversion to MP3 or WAV format.

It is all quite easy to do but takes a lot of time; however, it is quite enjoyable listing to those old songs you’ve had stored for years.  I can get 18 –19 albums worth of MP3s on one CD. It certainly makes your day at the computer go much better to have your own music playing.  You just feel better. I attempted to remove the background hum of the needle on the vinyl, and was successful in doing so but I ended up with something akin to today’s CDs. And it was, well, lacking.

So to answer the original question?  Yes. Vinyl does sound better than CDs.   Much better!  — even with scratches, skips, and pops.

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It may come as a surprise to some but be common knowledge to others, that people think differently.  It’s not that they are thinking about different things.  The process itself is different - rooted in it’s own tradition, perspective and heritage.

For example, western thought is liner reason. Not just reason but linear reason.  A + B = C.  Spock as opposed to Capt. Kirk.  Spock was the voice of liner reason balanced by the emotion and quirkiness of Capt. Kirk.  The best western comedy sets you up with liner reason and does a 90 degree turn for the punch line.  The best examples were George Burns and Gracie Allen.  George was the voice of liner progression (reason) and Gracie delivered the punch line. Gracie would make a conclusion that made sense for all the wrong reasons and did it with such innocence, style and grace that you couldn’t contain your laughter.

There are other ways to occasionally poke fun at western thought forms, and that is with any paradox.  There is just no place for the paradox in western thought because the paradox de-thrones reason.  Which came first the chicken or the egg?

It’s always fun to ask this question at the end of a long lecture on evolution or Cosmology; however, for Cosmology there is a better question.  Scientific theories continue to advance on the origin of the universe and can take us back to within moments of the big bang.  Current thought believes that the universe spring forth or exploded from nothingness.  There was nothing, and suddenly  there is something within that nothingness.  They also tell us that the universe is expanding into nothingness.  Not empty space but into where nothing previously existed.  So it’s fun to ask, “If the universe came from nothing and is expanding into nothing, is the universe bigger or smaller than nothing?”

As this de-thrones reason, western thought has no answer.  Eastern thought embraces and welcomes the paradox but seems to replace reason with practicality. Thus the answer is, “Yes.” And perhaps the paradox is not to be answered but merely acknowledged.

I’m sure this is way over simplified but perhaps food for thought.

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While it has been widely reported that home sales are down, and they are, it is still comforting to know that during the first four months of 2007 the number of homes sold between $400,000 and $2,500,000 totaled 428. There were additional homes sold for less than $400,000 plus some mobile homes. So over all while the market is down in number of sales, it is not dead as some think.  Homes priced between $900,000 and $1million are still the slowest to sell.

Click here to view a graph.

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In all markets certain price ranges of homes sell faster than others. There are many reasons for this. When I lived in Fremont, they were in a massive expansion of new homes and numerous homeowners decided to trade up. This flooded the market with lower priced homes and drove the price of the homes they sought even higher. In our area lower priced homes have always sold well because they meet the budget of more people. More people can qualify for a $500,000 home than a million dollar home. It is often true that for a $100,000 more you can get much more house. In the chart below we find that homes priced between $800,000 and $1,000,000 to be slowest to sell so far this year.

Yet the number of homes sold between 1 million and 2 million show a spike in sales. These homes traditionally have the best views, location, size, and other ammenities. Data includes condo’s and PUD’s.

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I was in the shop turning sticks for walking canes when I decided to turn a 1.5×1.5 piece of douglas fir. After turning the first one and polishing it up, I thought I should try some dyes for the next one. But since I did not want to wait two weeks for a catalog shipment of several analine dyes I remembered I had some Rit fabric dye which I had planned to use on my old jeans to get them closer to the new look.

So I turned and sanded a test piece and applied the dye full strength. I allowed it to soak in for 60 seconds and then wiped off the excess. After a quick buff on the lathe, removing still more dye I completed the test with a clear spray overcoat. I liked it. So I went down to the supermarket and picked up a bottle of Scarlet dye and repeated the process with red. I must admit it sure dresses up Douglas Fir.

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The Tribune recently reported the median prices for SLO County homes rose last month. While this may be true, it may also be caused by the continued sales of properties over 1 million dollars. If high end home continue to sell when everything else slows down it will increase the median and tend to skew our interpretation of real events. One need only look at the quantity of price reductions of homes currently for sale to realize that prices for most homes continue to decline. Data for the following chart comes from the MLS.

I believe the we could plot a similar curve for the 5 cities area. I still believe this decline in prices will bottom out in the 4th quarter 2006.

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The weekly Cayucos column by Dick Weiss has been moved from page 3 to page 7. While this may seem like bad news it is actually great news because Page 7 is in color.

They have also given Dick more space for photos of Cayucos Events.

So write, email, or phone the Sun Bulletin and thank them.

149 Market Ave

Morro Bay, CA 93442

phone: 805 772-7346

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As many of you know I have been President of the Cayucos Chamber of Commerce for the past year and a half. While my term ends in December many have expressed their desire for me to continue for another two years so I have decided to place my name on the ballot for another term.

There are still a number of things I would like to accomplish. First and foremost is to get the Chamber on a sound financial basis. To this end we are launching a membership drive. If you are a business or do business in Cayucos I encourage you to join as a full member. Dues are the lowest in the county at only $100 per year. You get a plaque for your business, a listing on our website with a direct link to your website and you are listed in our roster which is sent out to the numerous people contacting us for information. We also have an associate membership of $50 for those who just wish to help out and be a part of our community.

At www.CayucosChamber.Com you will find a calendar of events, a roster of members, and a membership form which you can download. There is also an extensive photo library of past events. Check it out. I’m sure you will find many photos of people you know and possibly one of you as well. All photos are digital and if you find some you like, drop by the office and I will give you a CD. Also, if your event is not listed, let me know about it so I can get it on the calendar.

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July is looking like a record month for price reductions. With only a week left, we could surpass 80 reductions by the end of the month.

A few price reductions are common, as sellers and REALTORS® overestimate the current value of a property and need to make adjustments. A trend, such as we are currently seeing, indicates that property values have already declined and adjustments are being made accordingly. Further analysis is required to establish if values are continuing to decline, level off, or rise.

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WHERE ARE WE NOW? – JULY 2006

It started last summer. The interest rate bottomed out, and there was massive new construction. The media began talking about a housing bubble, and even Greenspan commented there was “Froth” in the real estate market. The US economy involves how we feel collectively, rather than inventories of consumer goods, stock market averages, unemployment, or inflation.

But last summer talk ensued about the housing bubble. It was on every broadcast being debated by every talk show host. By October it had affected everyone and sales plummeted.

From October 2005 to December 2006 prices in Morro Bay fell by 6%. Since there is no massive construction of new homes in Los Osos, Morro Bay, or Cayucos the elements of a housing bubble did apply but it was like being unemployed during a season of low unemployment: the collective feeling of the nation was in control. Interest rates were still great. Baby boomers were still retiring, but now buyers could wait and see if prices were going to continue downward in which case it paid to wait.

*note* July has 11 more days to equal or exceed Junes statistics.

As buyers left the market and demand fell, sellers were forced to lower the price of their homes; therefore, home values in the area continued to decline from January 2006 to the present (July 2006). I surmise along the lines of another 6%. In the chart above it is obvious that REALTORS® and sellers were late in reacting to the downward trend, partly because it was felt to be a temporary anomaly (bad press, holidays, and an extended rainy season).

While it was obvious to me in October, I gave it 6 months and expected it to bottom out in April 2006. My real estate predictions have been incredibly accurate for the past 6 years but I missed this one.

Based on current indicators this may last a year and bottom out in September or October. This means that the best time to buy a home on the central coast is anytime in the next three months. When things do turn around, I fully expect annual appreciation to return to the 15%-20% range. How can I say that you might ask? It is simply this: we are small communities and will remain small. This quaint lifestyle is very attractive to anyone who has been stuck in traffic. The air is clear and the climate is fantastic. But most importantly: We are still the most reasonably priced area between San Diego and San Francisco.

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